Should job applications ask about criminal records?

Seen as barrier to employment for people with previous convictions

Jul. 20, 2014

Oliver Manley stands outside his home in the Fountain Place Mobile Home Park in Marion. Manley spent 17 months in prison and was released Jan. 14. After daily searches for employment and filling out more than 50 job applications during the past six months, Manley secured a job at a Delaware manufacturer. / Bill Sinden/The Marion Star

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CentralOhio.com

The weariness of a workday can feel good, especially after pounding the pavement for more than five months looking for a job.

As the nation comes out of the recession, the hunt is one many know well. For 26-year-old Oliver Manley, the search was complicated by choices he made during a domestic argument in 2012. He ended up spending about 17 months in prison for his first felony charges, one for domestic violence and another for breaking a phone during the incident.

Like millions of other people across the nation, those decisions are continuing to haunt Manley as he fills out job applications that ask him to check a box indicating he has a criminal record. The stigma attached to checking the box has led to a push for employers to remove it from applications.

While in prison, Manley said he made a decision to make a change. He got his GED certificate — something he once referred to as “toilet tissue” — and, upon his release in January, quickly began looking for a job, a place to sleep and transportation.

“The thing that really hurt me was every time I went to an interview or filled out an application is the felony had to be seven years or older,” Manley said.

He said a warehouse job he looked at required the felony be more than 10 years old. One employer turned him away because of his record; another rejected him in the midst of orientation.

“I do have good qualities, and I know I have assets I can offer a company,” Manley said.

The problem

Manley is joined by more than 92 million people who also have an arrest record, according to a 2008 estimate from the Department of Justice. Ohio’s prisons estimate 17 percent of Ohioans, about 2 million people, have a misdemeanor or felony record.

Shannen Millard, a former sheriff’s deputy who began Avodah Staffing and Recruiting with her husband last year in Marion, said it can take years for some people with convictions to find employment.

“It is very crucial we get them working. Their past doesn’t matter. The ones who want to work are out hitting the pavement every day,” said Millard, who specializes in helping those with convictions find employment.

A study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research estimated that, in 2008, the male employment rate dropped 1.5 to 1.7 percent because of barriers people with convictions face finding work. The study estimated those barriers cost the economy between $57 million and $65 million in lost output. Black men were even more affected, as they make up about 39 percent of the prison population, according to the study.

Ohio has been looking at ways to get such people back into the workforce by reducing collateral sanctions and providing special certificates.

Ohio is removing criminal records questions from job applications with the state, but the Ohio Department of Administrative Services said it will remain in place for certain positions.

The state also began providing some protections for employers hiring people with convictions who leave prison with a special certificate. If something happens with the employee who has the certificate, the employer will not be held liable.

Proposed solution

The idea of removing the criminal record question is part of a national movement called Ban the Box, which is tracked and supported by the National Employment Law Project.

The goal is to get more people with the skills for the job to the interview stage. Employers could still ask about criminal records during the interview and conduct background checks; the effort does not plan to affect any laws that prohibit people with convictions from holding certain jobs.

At Alvis House, a residential re-entry program with five Ohio sites, President and CEO Denise Robinson said that, nine times out of 10, clients aren’t interviewed when they’ve completed an application with the criminal record question.

Michelle Rodriguez, a senior staff attorney with the project, said Ban the Box was started by people with past convictions in San Francisco and Boston. She said it has gained steam during the past decade as officials continue to look at ways to reduce recidivism and boost the economy.

The project reports more than 65 jurisdictions across the nation have opted to remove the criminal record question from applications during the past decade. Over the past four years, at least seven Ohio jurisdictions, including Marion, Massilon, Canton, Cleveland and Cincinnati, have eliminated the question from local government job applications.

In March, Delbert Perry, 32, of Columbus, began a Facebook campaign to Ban the Box in Columbus. He’s reached out to public officials but has gotten little response. His interest stems from personal experience and the continued stigma of several felony charges — including theft and drugs — that are more than a decade old.

Even with an associate degree in small business management and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in marketing, Perry said he still can’t find a job that’s not general labor and minimum wage.

“Even with the changes I’ve made, I’m going to be looked at like (a felon) until the day I die. ... I can’t get mad at the situation because this is where America is as a whole,” he said.

He’s been considering moving to a state where private and public employers are required to remove the box from applications in hopes of improving his job prospects.

Growing advocacy

In July 2013, Rep. Sandra Williams, D-Cleveland, sponsored a bill that would require all Ohio employers to remove the criminal background question from applications. Although the bill didn’t get much further than being assigned to committee, Williams believes it will come back up for discussion, and she intends to propose it again if elected to the Ohio Senate this fall.

“I think it’s become a movement across the country ... that people are just going to have to come to grips with,” Williams said.

The push for people with convictions to become productive gets complicated when they can’t get a job, which increases the cost to taxpayers because they remain on assistance, Williams said.

“It’s disheartening. You might do something once in your life, and you’re still in those chains because you can’t do the things you need to do to be a productive citizen,” she said.

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce wants the decision to remain in the hands of business owners, said Sean Chichelli, director of labor and human resources policy.

While some employers don’t mind hiring people with convictions, he said others may feel it’s a safer environment not to. Businesses report they prefer having more background information up front when considering applicants, he said.

In 2012, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued updated recommendations to businesses on ways to evaluate criminal records to prevent unlawful discrimination, specifically against minority groups. The commission advises that blanket policies are not lawful and employers need to assess individual circumstances.

Some big-box retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Target, have made the decision to remove the criminal records question.

Rodriguez said some businesses eliminated the question because they viewed it as a way to help the local community.

“If you want to hire from our local community, we have to think about who is there,” she said, adding employment is a factor in reducing repeat offenders.

Manley hopes to see a change of heart among business owners because, like Perry, he knows not everyone can keep being rejected. He said he thinks that, if it weren’t for the support of his girlfriend, he would have resorted to selling drugs, something he used to do to make ends meet.

Earlier this month, Manley got the call he’d been waiting on — a job offer with a Delaware manufacturer that pays more than minimum wage.

“It’s all about equal opportunity to be employed by a company,” Manley said. “We’re just human beings. We’re fallible. What counts is what you learn from it. I’ve learned from it. ... I’m a better man today.”